The Little Nuclear Reactor In You

“The fight doesnt end when you fall, the fight ends when you refuse to get up.” – Anonymous boxing quote.

Ever since the inception of the human race, conflict and fighting has always been a part of everything we ever did. Some things we fight for and some things we fight off. There’s always a fight lurking in most of our moments.We fight off sleep from the very first waking moment of the day and the fight inches into the day with commuting, work and other such aspects of life. And if there’s nothing, we are always fighting off thoughts and plans, sorting and segregating them. Some people prefer using the word struggle instead of the word fight, but the word struggle banks a little on the submissive side, don’t you think?

There’s a fighter in all of us and we fight and win in our own small ways. And just like everything else in life that has a poweful core source of energy driving it, the fighter in you has one too. We all have a ball of energy inside us; something like a mini nuclear reactor. It’s this little guy who fuels the fighter in you and helps you win every single time you do. People from different roots and origins have different names for it. The Chinese call it ‘Chi’ while the Indians call it ‘Dum’. But there is a modern version of it; it’s called heart and I first saw this amazing phenomenon in action when I saw Frankie ‘The Answer’ Edgar raised his Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) light heavyweight belt in the air, amidst all the flashing lights and cheering fans.

Frankie Edgar, my favourite mixed martial arts fighter, had always had heart. Growing up, he was the little scrawny kid who was bullied by brutes who thought they had game. He made a concrete statement when he beat a similar bully in his first ever professional wrestling match. When he got into professional fighting later on, most of his opponents towered over him. He was one of the lightest and smallest members of his weight division. But it didnt matter. It never mattered. He had the heart of a lion and it always drove him to stand up every single time he fell.

Bruised, battered and bloody, he manages to win most of his fights with sheer heart, skill and determination. Even if he loses, his “high energy – high output” performance never goes unnoticed. As one of his opponents quoted, “Frankie wins not because he’s the biggest or the best, he wins because he keeps coming back and you cant get him to quit.”

A lot of people accomplish extraordinary feats in the span of their lives. Some run seemingly impossible marathons, while some nail seemingly impossible intellectual achievements. These people have heart; heart to chase down and achieve the things they want. Frankie’s style taught me a lot of things. With pure heart, soul and sincerity, it is possible to achieve seemingly impossible things in life, even if you’re the underdog. All you have to do is keep going. There’s a fighter in all of us; a fighter with a champion’s heart. Direct the little ball of energy, the little nuclear reactor in you in the right direction and it’ll give you immense strength to do the things you’ve always wanted to do.

So find your heart. Know its worth. Be a fighter. Be a winner. Evolve. Fight. Insist. And Win..